Support for Brian and for Hoke

I think everyone out there who is up in arms about Brian's response to the Hoke hire needs to step back and take a deep breath.

Brady Hoke became the next coach at Michigan only two days ago now. I know that when I first heard the news I was less than thrilled. But since that time I have really warmed up to him, and now I'm all in. But for others it may take more time.

More importantly, we all need to realize that Brian is entitled to his opinion on this matter. That guy works tirelessly to make this the best blog of any kind that I have ever been a part of. And guess what? I get to log on to this site and be a part of it for FREE! So despite my disagreement with Brian's perspective at the moment, I'm still all in for him and this blog as well.

I know that the Michigan fan base needs to be united in order for the program to be successful. And it is my hope that Brian eventually warms up to Brady Hoke. But the one thing I will never question is that Brian is ALL IN FOR MICHIGAN. Michigan is that guy's life. And this blog is the product of that.

To Brian, I'm sure my vote of confidence doesn't mean much, as you've no doubt developed tough skin over your time running this site. But most of us are still behind you. So keep up the good work that we get to enjoy every day.

I totally agree... Brian is entitled to his opinion of which I agree with. He isn't saying Hoke can't win games. He actually said the opposite. He will win games and get around 9 wins a season just like Lloyd and go to BCS games and struggle. My guess is 75% of Michigan fans would be happy with that, just to get back to the old ways. Brian, and myself, were in the boat hoping for a home run hire on the national championship level as opposed to a Big Ten title once every 4 years.

Time will tell but he is using facts for his critiques so you can't just blindly call him wrong when facts support a lot more than saying "that school in Ohio". Rah rah speeches are good but we have to wait until we see them play on the field to know what we have.

His record may not be the best and Hoke may do well here, but he is a class act. I liked the way he thanked his players and how emotional he got, he cares about the kids as RR did as well. He thanked RR which was nice to see.

The big thing is he has no ego. He is confident, but he had no problems telling people this was his dream job and he was willing to walk here. Also, I went back and watched SDSU's bowl game. He coaches the line and follows orders from the DC about what to emphasize with the line during a game. You can see that when the offense had the ball during one series, he was over talking to the d -line.

How can he so confidently predict that we'll win Big ten championships, but be unable to compete at the NC level? Look at the teams that have won the big ten over the past 10 years, and think about how many of them either went to the NC, or were borderline NC teams. The difference between these two is very small, and to predict that we'll win big ten championships with some regularity, and not compete for NCs is sort of absurd to me.

We all need to get behind coach hoke, and give him a fair shake. We saw with Rodriguez what happens when coaches are judged too quickly. Let's not repeat the mistakes that were made by the freep on this board.

You know what, can we git rid of the "All In" thing now that RR is gone? I never particularly liked it and always found it kinda insulting to the entire fan base. You criticized one thing in the RR era and you weren't "all in".

and the players certainly adopted it. I always thought, however, that "the team, the team, the team" was both inspiring and sufficient. I also thought that the pre-game pump up video they showed on the scoreboards last year referencing Bo's immortal words were awesome. Go Blue.

Man, in the last 48 hours it has felt like if you have any reservations about Brady Hoke you aren't supporting your coach... it's like being told you "don't support the troops" or something.

Brian was absolutely roasted on WTKA for saying that Hoke would win Big Ten championships but struggle in bowl games, just like Carr and even Bo. Yet even for that he was killed on the radio.

It's like if you don't say that Brady Hoke will win consecutive National Championships until he actually becomes the trophy itself you aren't supporting Michigan. I think Hoke is a good hire and he will do well. Not a great hire and he will do great. But he is good, and he could be better than that, we don't know. Please don't hurt me for that...

Our legal team has been working very hard to free FuManBlue but we cannot get complacent. There is a lot of work to do, including the hearing before the parole board, and we cannot lose sight of the process.

Hoke comes in with a losing record, one bowl win, and no experience at an auto-qualifier, and 1(!) win over a BCS school in the past four years, Indiana....

RR came in with lots of wins, was a game away from playing for the national title and all the hype in the world, but inherited a bad situation and had 'factions' against him from day one.

Hoke got up there and played to the masses, and everyone lapped it up. He used those key phrases like 'that school to the south' and we all felt tingly things, but I will not blindly support a coach that lacks the credentials just because he was a D-line coach here for severn years and knows the words to The Victors.

I really hope that I am wrong about him, but 8-9 wins a year is what we are going back to, and I hope everyone is happy being handcuffed to Lloyd ball for the next half decade or so...

If, and hopefully when I am wrong, I'll host a CIL for me eating my words.

you're also forgetting that Lloyd had his fair share of 9,10,11 win seasons as well. Not too bad. Having said that, Hoke is not Lloyd Carr, so stop equating them. It's getting really old and kind of annoying.

Because if any of us are a little leery about a FBS coach with a losing record, and (at least in my case) far more upset about how DB handled the coach search than the end result, it's because Brian said so right? Hokemania is so awesome that the only possible way to disagree with it is brainwashing from our fearless leader?

Hoke might do great, he might do poorly, it's just a big risk. On top of that, DB destroyed our recruiting class and really hurt our national image with how he handled this search. Not to mention this godawful "Michigan Man" meme that needs to die miserably. If it's true that DB didn't even contact Gary Patterson, well, he doesn't deserve to hold the job of AD.

Let people have their opinions, the difference between us being worried about the hiring is that, at the end of the day, we're still going to support our coach instead of trying to dig up dirt on him and root against the team in hopes that he's ousted faster.

Ok, I was initially not happy with Brian's anti-Hoke stance...but I'm down with Michigan fans having dissenting opinions. I guess I enjoy his writing so much, I'm bummed he doesn't feel the same way I do about Hoke. Oh well, it's not like he stole my rug

do you support Hoke or do you think it is a good hire and we will be relevant nationally again? Those are different. Let me ask you this, did you vote for bush or obama? if you didnt, did you think the same way and since he is your president did you support him? This is the same. In elections a person has no control over who get elected and when it isnt the guy he/she voted for he/she usually doesnt support him, so why shouldnt it apply here?

Do I think it was a good hire? - emotions, aside, it remains to be seen. I thought RR was a tremendous hire also. I supported him, but I also think he may have, at least initially, placed himself above traditions which many consider sacrosant. I was not particularly fond of that, but I was willing to roll with it because I thought he could win. He may not have been given the time, I'll give him that.

Will we be relevant again? - when did we stop being relevant? Oh, you mean will we win? Yes, I believe we will win.

More to your point - it is a different set of circumstances. Unlike a presidential election, what choice did/do I have? I was not consulted, had no voice in the decision, and furthermore, because I was removed from the process, I am woefully ill prepared to second guess DB. Do I support the president (coach), yes, but I may not agree with him philosophically. More importantly, I support my country (school) more, if that makes any sense.

let me ask you this, because I don't believe it myself. do you thing that alumni, ex players and non players both, not supporting the coach can cause them to lose games? It might make life stressful but i doubt they become less able to coach the team because of it

I agree with you. Unless they can pass, catch, kick, block, tackle, etc., I do not believe they can directly affect the week to week results. However, if they become a distraction and indeed, as you say, make life intolerable for both players and coaches, how long before that negativity works its way into the recruiting pipeline and affects how prospective recruits view the program? I happen to believe that players make a system, and not necessarily the other way around. There is a reason recruits are assigned stars. Would a program where the lack of institutional (alum base) support is pervasive be attractive to you if you were a premium recruit? Just saying.

Some people are acting like Brian has suddenly turned mgoblog into a "fire Brady Hoke" website, when all he has really done is give honest answers to the questions he was asked. Soon, though, it will be "business as usual" in Ann Arbor. Everything will calm down, and hopefully, we will all start looking forward to spring practice.

He is devastated that RR got fired and they hired Hoke. How could any Michigan fan watch the presser yesterday and not be really excited for next year? I just don't get Brian's "the world is over...DOOM" reaction. He is acting like a child.

A lot of people do care about that. Football is an emotional game. You have to be passionate about it to be great. People like seeing passion. Football games can swing in a flash and all it takes sometimes is a passionate speech from a coach to grab the momentum. Players like that. They react to that. It's why an unranked team can beat a top 10 team--because they had passion for the game and put their heart into it.

because sports exist for winning, nothing more. You want to feel good about something and act socially superior? go volunteer or something. you want to act like good intentions and civility is relevant in sports? thats stupid. Football exists for one reason, beating the other team. pressers are not football, football is football

the MGoBlog brand was seriously weakened as Brian was way too slow to recognize that RR did not have what it took to succeed at Michigan. As too many of his followers unrealistically clung to the hope that the RR revolution would take hold after the failures started to mount and shouted down those that dared to post otherwise, work needs to be done here. The site is still fantastic but it will take time to regain equilibrium.

it. He's not going to turn this blog into the Freep and attempt to undermine and destroy Hoke. It has been 2 days since this hire, things will ease. Brian will bleed the Maize and Blue again. Maybe he'll even drink some Hoke Kool Aid.

Let's all sit back and see the assistant hires. Let us see if we can salvage part of this recruiting class. Let's enjoy the Spring Game (rah!)

I'm 100% behind Michigan. I'm 100% behind this blog & Brian. Hoke, well, I'm not sure. I'm not rooting for Hoke to fail, but I will wait and see what he does first. I haven't fallen in love with him. I do know I really liked RR & Barwis as persons. I'm not happy that Barwis was not retained. I'm less than overjoyed with the OC. So I'm not jumping on the Hoke bandwagon just yet. The OP and others can go ahead and lead the way.

For me it seems like the same stupid stuff. Preconceived notions from 3 years ago that he refuses to let go. The media tore Rich down for stuff that was stupid that happened here (or in coming here). Brian's doing it on nothing that's been done here.

Dude, criticizing a coach for not winning very many football games at his prior jobs is totally different from criticizing a coach for cleaning out his office and negotiating a buyout and having a southern accent and having a wife who wears leopard skin prints. Brian is criticizing the hiring of Hoke on the former grounds, whereas he criticized the criticism of RR on the latter.

This isn't Communist Russia. You won't be shot for having a dissenting opinion. So Brian isn't a fan of the hire. He's not the only one in that boat, he's just the only one in that boat with a microphone and the thin-skinned among us can't take it. I wasn't a fan of the hire at the time, but I'm slowly coming around based on blind hope and a pocket full of dreams. Brian isn't a fan of the hire and he has the right to say so. If you don't like it, just get over it and move on.

At least Hoke gets what UM is all about, which is excellence. Not just the football team but the entire university. RR is like Cooper was at OSU. Big time coach that never really got it. The kids were recruited to play for a RR offense, not to represent the U of M. At least not in the same way that most of us alumni do. Nobody ever came to Michigan because of the coach (maybe Bo). THey came because its Michigan. U of M is about leadership and success. Hoke will be a fine coach.

Of course its about winning football games. And it is different in the eyes of the alumni. U of M has so much more to offer anyone who goes to the university than those others and that should not be ignored. When that philosophy was employed to the football program in the past we've had wild success. Being an alumni has helped me in my professional life immensely and that legacy needs to be highlighted to recruits and motivation for players. Its a standard that doesn't exist at other universities.

I agree with AAB, U of M the academics, the students, the social awareness, those are about different things than football. football is about winning, if it isnt about winning why have a football team? there are no ties in football, only wins and losses (at least in college), and football wasnt invented for any other reason but to win. it has no other meaning, no other reason to exist. why care about football if you dont care about winning as many games as possible?

Of course its about winning. However, to me and most others its more about the process of achievement. The process at UM has always been about integrity, hard work, etc. That's why college sports are awesome. Thats also the main reason so many are down on Les Miles. If I'm totally wrong on this then why are there so many UM fans through this three year debacle that didn't stop watching and latch onto some SEC bandwagon. They win.

students at 119 other universities think differently than the students do here then. its not about integrity and hard work, its about results. Lets say you graduate with a 2.5 gpa. But hey dude who is doing the hiring, I know I didnt accomplish as much as the other guys but i did worked hard too and did it with integrity, shouldnt that count for something? no, no it doesnt. Integrity doesnt mean anything, its just a word. Look at the Auburn fans, do you really think they care about whether cam newton really took money? no, they are celebrating a national championship and heisman winner while we talk about non quantifiable things like integrity.

and your view is skewed because you are a U of M student who thinks that this university stands for something that other universities don't, and you would be wrong. This is just another university and now this football team is just another team

dude, u of m isnt even in the top 25 anymore on the us news and world report. they arent even the top public university. no list, whether it be kiplingers or princeton review has michigan at the top of any list. get off it man, lots of people go to better colleges than you do and lots of people will be more successful

sorry pointing out data makes me immature, you are the one getting pissed off about reality though. this fan base is as far removed from reality as you can get. Ann Arobr is not the greatest place on earth, U of M isnt the greatest univeristy ever, and zingermans isnt the best restaurant in town. The sooner everyone realizes this the sooner we can get back to doing what needs to be done to field a winning football team, unitl then we will just be another team

Again, I don't need my self-worth, my degree, or my University validated by some list, or some random dude on the internet. For me, to me, it is the best University on the planet, and that's why I chose to graduate from there. My perception is that, and there's not a thing you can do to change my perception of my University, regardless of how you feel about A² or the University.

My thoughts on the University have nothing to do with the success or failure of the football team. The sooner you realize that, the sooner.. I don't know, you're the one here that is good at drawing irrelevant conclusions, how about you finish that one for me?

We've been down this road with you before. There's an entire thread devoted to it, sitting in the user-curated HoF. I'm sorry you're pissed off about working wherever you work or graduating from whatever University you did, but that's not our fault. Internalize your rage or go blather on about it to some group who actually cares.

if your thoughts on the university have nothing to do with the sucess or failure of the football team then the successof the football team should not have anything to do with your thoughts on the university. I'm not pissed about anything in my life except for the fact i moved here because I grew up going to u of m football and hockey games and loving the teams only to find out the fan base and student population are fucking delusional and thinks that every business or organization should be run by ghandis instead of gordon geckos.

if your thoughts on the university have nothing to do with the sucess or failure of the football team then the successof the football team should not have anything to do with your thoughts on the university

Right. Believe it or not, the success of the football team has nothing to do with my thoughts on the University - I hold them separate, and at no point did I posit that the two were one and the same. In 2000 (which is when I applied to UofM) I couldn't tell you how the four down system works.

I am an alumnus of the University. I am a fan of the University's football team. There is a difference.

the fan base and student population are fucking delusional

Again you're making sweeping generalizations of groups based on limited interactions with a small number of their representatives and coming up well short of what the truth actually is. As mentioned earlier, we've been through this before with you - you apparently haven't grown a bit since then, hence the previous assertion that you're acting like an immature brat (or more specifically, one that can't have his way and is throwing a tantrum).

edit: also, last reply. I have work I should be doing and this is not a particularly productive exercise.

It's obvious from your feelings on the school and team, it's not "your" team at all. It's just one you like to pretend to like when they're winning so you can brag to your friends. That's your reality.

There is absolutely no possible way that a school moves up or down a spot or 2 in any given year. It's all to sell magazines.

Schools rise and fall in those lists like elevators. If the lists stayed relatively the same year to year just like the schools, then they wouldn't be able to sell their "Best Colleges and Grad Schools" book year after year.

You want the real rankings? Just look at the ones done by job recruiters and HR professionals:

Not sure where you went to school, but if you didn't go to U-M, how can you know if it's different or not? You have no point of reference. So you can't really comment on who's wrong or right. And frankly, if you have no ties or love for the University or team, why are you rooting for it? There are tons of NFL teams out there just out for a dollar, and they'll take your dollar and try and win for you. Those that actually know something about college sports know it can be very different. Until you have any point of reference, you're probably better off just keeping quiet rather than looking foolish.

After the decision to dump RR was made, what did you guys expect? You all knew that Harbaugh was NFL bound. Miles turns out was an ego that Brandon didn't want to deal with. Think about this now.. IMO Hoke was the only serious target from the OSU loss going forward. Yes these other guys were given their fair shake phone call, Harbaugh could come back if Hoke doesn't work out and I think Miles has burned his last bridge to ever coach at UM. I think you guys are going to be really happy with how this all shakes out.

This hire should have taken place right after the OSU loss. The recruiting class in all probability would have been satiasfactory for a transition year.

Or rather the farce that the search became. It seems DB made the decision to let RR go after the OSU game, but he could not pull the trigger at that time. By waiting he did neither RR nor BH any favors. I diagree with DB about sacrificing recruiting; this was a challenge that BH or any coach did not need. Hiring BH in December makes recruiting a lower risk item.

Brian's passion and dedication to Michigan football is not in doubt. He's frustrated because he's observing this move several steps down the road, and doesn't want Michigan to fade into Bolivian. Brian doesn't WANT to be right in his feelings about Hoke, and about our ceiling being lower with this higher, etc. But hey, for a guy who puts as much time into analysis of our football team, his opinion is certainly a valuable one.

Even so, as we see what the remaining carnage/attrition is with our current players, our recruits, and what Hoke does going forward, Brian will change his tune on Hoke if there's reason to do so. He's not being unreasonable, he's just a little bit depressed and exhausted from the last 3+ years (and maybe more) that we've withstood. I think he certainly deserves to be cut a little slack.

I think we can all agree with that (if not, please devote your working life to running a blog on Michigan athletics, then re-evaluate). But we may want to think about changing the banner to the neutral MGoBlog banner that we all know and love. The coaching search is over, Gruden ain't here, and Hoke is. Plus, recruits (and their parents) read this site, and we may want to tone down the "OMG DOOM!!!" meme, if only to show that we're a reasonable and fair fan base.

my gf made a good point, the only reason people are saying the coach needs alumni support is for their own selfish reasons so they feel connected to the program. They think that "this coach isnt going to win unless he has my support". The coach makes millions of dollars to do one thing, the create a winning program, and he'll either do it or not do it, regardless of alumni support

do you really think college football players # 1 reason to come to a school is to represent that school and play for that student body? They are there because their #1 goal in playing college football is to make it to the nfl and the fact that players leave early proves this point, they wouldnt leave early if they were here for the university. And the university reaps the benefits by revenue from merch, tickets sales, bowl game payout, its a huge money maker. Why do you think they hired dave brandon, someone with a business background if it isnt a business? this fan base needs to get realistic. Michigan is a good school, not the best, and whatever michigan may have done in the past in football is important, but this isnt Bo's college football anymore, this is a business

not sure how many people have taken managment classes, but havent you learned that complacency is a bad thing and you always need to be evolving to stay relevant? yets the fan base here goes against that and seems to think that while other teams are evolving, using the same ideals and thoughts that worked 30 years ago still work

no they transfered to schools that they hoped would send them there, why else would vlad transfer to toldeo from michigan, ill concede that U if M is a better college than toledo, so why transfer? what other reason to transfer is there?

I wasnt so much surprised with Brians take on the hire, mostly because I tend to agree. I was more surprised by the callers who wasted no time in bitching out Cook for his dissenting opinion. I mean within a few minutes of the start of his segment the first caller was all up his shit about what he was saying.

I think its a very valid point that Michigan has regressed with this hire. Rich Rodriguez might not have produced the results we all wanted or expected but the reason for hiring him has not changed. In the last decade we have seen a major shift in college football away from that more traditional smash mouth football approach. The spread offenses that are employed are important factors in allowing teams like TCU and Auburn to dominate nationally while teams like Ohio State and Oklahoma can only dominate in conference.

Besides the last 2 years, Ohio State has traditionally struggled out of conference under Jim Tressel. Now Tressel ball does win games by reducing mistakes to a minimum and avoiding any unnecessary risks. But that style cannot compete against more athletic and speedy teams that are designed to circumvent the inherent strengths of a more traditional offense. Under Tressel the buckeyes roll through the B10 looking like a top 5 team. Then in the bowl game, against competition that does not play to the strengths of Tressels design, the weaknesses of the system are magnified.

I argued this right up to the end of the Rodriguez era. Michigan may have been getting 9+ wins under Carr but the system was outdated and needed changed and I think that hiring Rodriguez was a huge step in making that change. Unfortunately the program and its fanbase were not ready for that change. So now we go back to what we had before. A team that looks good and wins most every game but loses to more athletic, speedy teams. I was willing to suffer through a few bad seasons if it meant we would never have to deal with this kind of philosophy again but I am only one person and am obviously in the minority.

It's going to take time for this to sink in on a personal note. All the hypocrisy that was let slide from the freep, from Carr and more importantly many of his players, from some alumni and the poor excuse for an athletic department is especially tough to stomach now. Hoke has all the tools to succeed and I hope he does, but Ican see us drowning in the pool of mediocrity because of our "Michigan Man" standards which mean jack shit to the teams killing us. I will be upset about this for as long as things continue to be blamed on Rodriguez no matter what Hoke does.